The Particle Flow & Tribology Lab (PFTL) at Carnegie Mellon researches new methodologies to predicting the behavior of granular, powder, and slurry flows in sliding contacts. Our research is conducted through the synergistic use of experiments, physics-based modeling, and computational simulations.
The research in the PFTL has application to the semiconductor, energy, biotechnology, nanotechnology, agricultural, space, and defense industries. The lab’s founder and director is Prof. C. Fred Higgs III.

Spring 2010: Prof. C. Fred Higgs III has been selected to receive the 2010 ASME Burt L. Newkirk Award, which is for an individual under the age of 40 "who made a notable contribution to the field of tribology in research or development as evidenced by important tribology publications."

Spring 2010: Sean Coleman , a PFTL undergraduate researcher, was a finalist in the “Meeting of the Minds” which is a school-wide research fair for Carnegie Mellon undergraduates. He won for his work entitled “Analysis and Modeling of Granular Particle Flows – A GPU-Based Approach “, which is a parallel approach to digital particle tracking velocimetry.

Spring 2010: Ryan Comes, a PFTL undergraduate alumnus, the first students to publish a first author journal article based on his PFTL undergraduate research, has won the NDSEG Fellowship.